Peggy Frink Humphreys Peggy Frink Humphreys was born on Groundhog's Day in Lisbon, a very small Iowa town, and died on December 29, 2012. It is not an accident that her birth year is not included since that information was never to be shared! Peggy was the 3rd of 6 children of Gale and Helen Deardorff Frink. She graduated from Lisbon High school, attended Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa her freshman year, then transferred and graduated from the University of Iowa with Phi Beta Kappa honors. She taught one year in Tama, Iowa, where the family had moved, and then moved to New York City where she lived for over fifty years. Her purpose in moving to New York was to continue her study of voice. She had the most marvelous soprano voice that the people in that part of Iowa had ever heard and she studied under Prof. Herald Stark at the University of Iowa, himself a renowned musician. She performed in two Broadway musicals before launching several varied careers in New York and Santa Fe, NM. She served as managing editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine, assistant dean of students at Sarah Lawrence College, assistant to the director of the Ellis Phillips Foundation and later an officer of their Board of Directors, and seal sale director of the New Mexico Tuberculosis Association. Because of a lifelong very deep and special bond with young children she volunteered for several years with the Boys and Girls Club in Santa Fe where she enjoyed the children immensely, and they eagerly returned that affection. A major achievement, one which she often expressed might kill her, was the compilation and publication of "The Frink Family in America," a mammoth genealogical work, covering 12 generations published first in 1971 and updated in 2005. She married John R. "Dick" Humphreys in 1959, and they were married 44 years. Dick was a noted author and was the director of the writing program and professor of writing at Columbia University for over 5 decades. Together they traveled to many countries and traversed the United States several times, resulting in three travel books for which Peggy's keen observations were a major contribution. Dick said her eyes and ears were far better than his and together they made a great team. On their first trip which began with their honeymoon and resulted in "The Lost Towns and Roads of America" Dick introduced Peggy to Santa Fe, already a city dear to him. They returned there in the fall of 1959, visited frequently, then purchased a home there 12 years later, and it has been their home ever since. Until Dick's retirement they spent part of each year in their New York City apartment, the rest in Santa Fe, but they considered Santa Fe their home from the beginning. Peggy has been an avid tennis player most of her adult life and was still playing a few weeks ago. She had a collection of tennis caps and hats of all colors and descriptions; in fact she intended never to leave the house bareheaded. She was a writer, a reader especially of the New Yorker and the New York Times, and had a marvelous wit and fascination for the world around her, from songbirds to the stars. Above all she loved life; she cherished her family and friends and it was mutual. In truth she planned to outlive all of us and we fully expected it. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Dick, in 2003, her brother Spencer in infancy, her sister Marilyn George, and her brother Lynn. She is survived by her brother Richard Frink of Sacramento, California and her sister, Helen Strine, of Caldwell, Idaho, her step-daughter Catherine Niejadlik of Boca Raton, Florida and Essex, Connecticut, and by 18 nieces and nephews to whom she was far more than an aunt and she loved and doted on them. She has left a great void in all of their lives, but she has provided everyone who knew her well with a wealth of stories and great memories. She loved to make people laugh, she wanted everyone around her to have ideas, to express them, and especially to listen to her wellspring of advice! A memorial service will be held for Peggy later in the spring. She will be buried in Tipton, Iowa alongside her husband, parents, and infant brother. Arrangements are through the Berardinelli Family Funeral Service. Memorials may be made to KNME/PBS or the . Berardinelli Family Funeral Service 1399 Luisa Street Santa Fe, NM 87505 (505)984-8600 Please sign our guestbook for the family at: www.berardinellifuneralhome.com